Do you need help to build hybrids in FIFA 16? Then, follow this guide.
A Guide for Building Hybrids in FIFA 16
The concept of building virtual teams with your favourite players within the boundaries imposed by chemistry is a feature of FIFA Ultimate Team which is unique from other similar game modes. Although this constraint may not appeal to some, it adds another level of complexity and enjoyment to be found in building squads, and in particular hybrid squads, on FUT. This feature of Ultimate Team has become so popular that it lead to the creation and uprise of many squad building/FUT database websites. The most well-known example is Futhead which is largely dedicated towards building squads and currently has over 500,000 registered users.
Firstly, let’s clarify what is meant by some of these terms relating to building squads.
- Chemistry
the specific system used in FUT which determines how well players play on FUT based on: the players surrounding him, his position as well as other minor factors (more on that later)
Squad building
the process of creating a team, usually with a certain goal in mind, to use in FUT and/or to show-off on squad-building websites (almost always Futhead.com). The squads which generally get the most attention are hybrid squads with more creativity being better.
Hybrid
a team which contains at least two nations AND at least two leagues.
Squad/team
the starting XI which you plan to show off or use on FUT. This excludes the bench/reserves, although players may be placed on the bench when the squad is made to show some alternatives for other users.
Full Chem.
short for full chemistry. This refers to a situation where every single player in a team has at least 9 chemistry. Additionally, it also may also refer to a just single player having at least 9 chem. A whole squad may have 100 chemistry but it is not considered to be “full chem” if some players have less than 9 chemistry.
Links
the connection between two adjacent players on a team, shown with coloured lines on FUT game modes. The colours are indicative of the strength of the connection. More on this later.
What is Chemistry?
Chemistry is a system on FUT which determines how a player plays based on the similarities in background between them and their teammates. In real life, it is a measure of how well players playing for the same team get along. Often, a team plays well if the players know each other well as they can understand anticipate each other’s movement and play-style better, a concept which is reflected both in real life football and in FUT.
In FIFA, EA have created a more simplistic way of measuring chemistry. This is a system which has existed in the past in offline game modes, but is now exclusive to FUT. It is based around the league, club and country a player plays for. The stronger this connection is (i.e the more in common), the better the player will play. Note that if, in a given squad, a player has a stronger link to one player compared to another, they will not pass better or make better runs with the stronger link than with their weaker link. The chemistry value of a player affects themselves only.
How does Chemistry work?
Chemistry values vary between 0 and 10 based on how strong a player’s connections are, with higher values being better. It is strongly recommended that you use a player with at least 9 chem to allow them to play to their potential. Any less and you will notice that their ability to pass, run, shoot and tackle won’t feel as good as it should be. To get a player on full chem, let’s introduce an arbitrary system to explain it.
Links come in four varieties: weak, medium, strong and hyper (sometimes called perfect).
Red/weak links are where two players play in a different league and come from a different country; they have little in common. This link will be assigned an arbitrary value of -1.
Yellow/medium links exist when two players either come from the same country or play in the same league (but not both). Note that leagues existing in the same country does not count as being the same league (e.g Ligue 1 and Ligue 2). They have a little in common and will be assigned a value of 0.
Strong/green links can mean one of two things. It can mean that two adjacent players come from the same country and play in the same league for different clubs or it means they play for the same club but come from different countries. This will be given a value of +1
Perfect links come about when two players from the same club and country are next to each other. These links are the same green colour as strong links on FUT, but are often distinguished from strong links on squad building websites by being light green. These players have many similarities hence we will let this have a value of +2
To get a player on full chemistry, you only need to have his links add up to a value of 0 or higher. Anything more than 0 does not improve how the player plays.
This means most players will build one league squads as this guarantees that everyone at least has an arbitrary value of 0 as there are no weak links between players in only one league. Alternatively, using players from just one nation yields the same result. However, this greatly reduces the potential of a squad and the ability to combine your favourite players if they play in different leagues and for different countries.
How can I use this to my advantage?
There may be many reasons for wanting to venture away from using just one league in a squad: The league has weaknesses in some position, the league is expensive compared to other leagues, your favourite players play separately and have nothing in common in terms of chemistry, etc. Hybrids enable you to get around these problems while allowing you to try out some players who you thought you would never use but turn out to be surprisingly good.
Types of Hybrids
Basic
The most basic hybrid would involve incorporating just one player from a different league to the rest of the squad.
For example, let’s imagine we are building an unlimited budget team in the Liga BBVA. Here there are few good goal keepers who can combine height, high diving, positioning and reflexes, the hallmarks of a top goalie. The pick of the normal gold players would probably be between the polarising Diego Alves and well-rounded Claudio Bravo (link Liga BBVA guide here). Although both are good keepers, none of them are considered outstanding in terms of FUT.
With the Liga BBVA being a Spanish league, it will naturally have many Spanish players. If we use and 4-at-the-back formation, we could create a situation where we can easily include a player from outside La Liga yet still maintain full chemistry on the squad. To achieve this, we could use Spanish centre backs from the league with a Spanish goalie from abroad. Theoretically, if we added a player of this nature, on the arbitrary scale of chemistry, he would be 0 + 0 = 0 hence will be on full chem. For example, let’s consider the classic 442 formation where we will put Pique at RCB and Ramos at LCB, some of the best defenders players in the game. This means we can now play De Gea from the BPL in goal who is, with little doubt, better than the alternatives in the Spanish league. We have opened up a situation where we have significantly improved the goal keeper position without affecting the rest of the team in terms of chemistry or quality. Also, the team now contains at least two nations and two leagues, hence can be called a hybrid, albeit a very simple one.
Moderate Hybrids
These types of squads have a moderate level of hybridity and are probably the easiest way to put two players together who would normally have a weak link between them. This category covers a broad range of hybrids with various examples provided.
Half-n-half, the best of two teams
Perfect links
Generally good team combining OP players from two leagues
Complex Hybrids
Complex hybrids are probably better categorised as NLW (No Links Wasted) hybrids as they are the most challenging to make yet can yield the most creative results. Note that this property does not make the players play any better or worse than they normally would on full chem. These squads often appear as the most popular on Futhead.com due to the difficulty associated with building them while still making them viable to use on FUT. It has also led to specialised NLW squads to become more popular, including Snake, NDL, 11 card and BSG teams (these terms will be defined further on). However, these kinds of teams are mainly for show as they contain players who aren’t suitable for FUT.
NLW refers to a special situation where every player has exactly the right combination of links to achieve 9 chemistry, no more, no less. This can also be interpreted as meaning every player in the team achieves exactly a 0 on the arbitrary chemistry scale. This can be observed in the squad below.
You may wish to verify that each player does indeed meet the NLW requirement.
Here are some examples of the specialised squads mentioned above
A solid “NLW” hybrid and the most popular squad on Futhead for FIFA 16 with over 2900 up votes
A snake where the green/yellow links form an end-to-end pattern called a “snake”. In this example, the player ratings increase from 73-83
An NDL squad where all links are yellow. Every player has an arbitrary value of 0 due to all their links being identical and therefore it is also full chemistry
A BSG or bronze-silver-gold team
Lastly we have a special 11 card or “Rainbow” squad. Not only does the example shown include 11 different card types, it is also a snake, BSG, NLW and as an added bonus, is rated 74 in defence, midfield and attack. This type of team is very difficult to make and is only realistically for display purposes and would struggle in a real game
Although these squads do not improve your gameplay of FUT, there is a certain level of prestige and respect within the FUT community associated with building and using these teams as they show that extra effort was put into creating the squad. It may also bring personal satisfaction to yourself if you can manage to bring together three of four of your favourite players from different nations and leagues into one squad, especially a NLW squad.
Sometimes, EA release special tournaments where you have to make a hybrid to enter. Knowing how to build one properly can be very beneficial for winning those trophies.
On a personal note, I wrote this article as I am tired of constantly facing boring single league squads on FUT, especially from the BPL and Serie A. Equally, I have seen many hybrids not on full chemistry and feel it would be better for the community if they knew how to build hybrids successfully without harming their squad chemistry or rating. I have used one league teams myself but I always prefer hybrids as it means I can try hidden gems or play my favourite players together even if they come from different areas of the globe.
What are the drawbacks of building hybrids?
Although hybrids may allow you more options when building teams, they have their share of issues. If a player gets injured/suspended/low on fitness, they may be difficult to replace while keeping your team on full chem, especially if it is a more sophisticated hybrid. Squad rotation is much easier with one league teams, whereas when using hybrids, it is more strongly recommended that you make two teams and alternate between them if these issues arise.
In order to play two players together, you may be forced to use someone to link the players who you wouldn’t normally want use to but is the only option for getting a full chem team. Equally, if you use a hybrid team and find that there are a few players who don’t suit your style, it may be difficult to replace them and keep full chem especially if your hybrid is more complicated. Although a NLW hybrid might be impressive for you and your friends, it brings with it an inability to chop and change. In these cases, it may be better to completely rebuild the squad.
Lastly, hybrids take time to build. If you feel like FUT is getting boring and want to rebuild your whole club, it takes longer to build full chem hybrids than it does to put together a single league or single nation team. However, with the ability to save squads using online squad builders and the accessibility of associated mobile apps, this is not as large an issue as it has been in the past.
The Author: Neel Parmar
Neel grew up playing various video games of all genres, but in the past few years has grown an increasing passion for FIFA in particular.
With his extensive knowledge of the ever popular FUT game-mode, he naturally wants to share it with the FIFA community.
Despite pursuing a degree in science, he always had a penchant for writing and has had letters to editors published in popular magazines as well as contributing to FIFA based websites.
Neel is keenly interested in all things football related, be it on the real or virtual pitch, and is an avid Barcelona fan.